The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles XBeale, Sophia
History
The Churches of Paris, from Clovis to Charles X
Beale, Sophia
Church buildings -- France -- Paris; Paris (France) -- Buildings, structures, etc.
Louis XIII., or rather, part of him, was buried at the Jesuits' church;
and Anne d'Autriche erected therein a fine monument sculptured by
Jacques Sarrazin. Two colossal angels in bronze and silver supported a
silver-gilt heart; but its magnificence only made it of greater use to
the mint for coinage.
This good king, the thirteenth of his name, was a great devotee of S.
Denis. He had instituted reform in the abbey by introducing the
congregation of S. Maur; and we are told that he acquired "strength and
spirits in his last illness, as he lay languishing upon his bed, as
often as he thought of S. Denis. At such times he would remark to his
attendants, with a smile of pious serenity, how much he felt himself
reconciled to his near approaching dissolution, and fortified against
all the usual desires of life or dread of death; in a sweet anticipation
of the happiness he should enjoy by reposing near the tombs of the Holy
Martyrs, in whom he placed the most sacred and unbounded confidence."
There is one more exquisite work of art which ought to be mentioned, the
beautiful urn from the abbey of Haute-Bruyère, which contained the heart
of that magnificent profligate, François I^er. It is of white marble, of
perfect form, with the most delicious little Genii sitting on the top.
The bas reliefs represent the Arts and Sciences, Faith, and the Church.
It is the work of Pierre Bontems.
Some of the kings were crowned at S. Denis after having been anointed
and consecrated at Reims; some, like Philippe Auguste, were re-invested
at the abbey. Philippe le Hardi, Charles VIII., Louis XII., François
I^{er.}, and Louis XIII., were all anointed at Reims and crowned at S.
Denis. An account in an old book of the coronation of Louis XIII. is so
quaint, and gives so graphic a picture of some of the manners and
customs of the period, that it is, I think, worth quoting in full.[53]
The description of the magnificent ceremony was extracted from a
chronicle of the reign of Louis XIII., and translated into English a
hundred and fifty years ago:--
"The royall ornaments, which are kept in the _Abbey of_ Saint
Denis, being caryed to Rheims, on the 14th October, 1610, the King
made his entrie into the towne, where his Maiestie was received
with greate pompe and magnificence; the particularities whereof I
am forced, for brevities sake, to omit. The day before the
ceremonie, the King went vnto the Cathedrall, to assist at
Euensong, and to heare a sermon made by Father Coton, vpon the
_diuine_ institution of the _unction of the Kings of France_, and
of confirmation, which he received from the hands of the Cardinall
of Joyeuse, to whom he was presented by Queen Marguerite and the
Prince of Condé.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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